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Friday, January 17, 2014

David Hockney and His Bigger Picture...

I came out of my post December fog today and ventured into San Francisco for the last weekend of the David Hockney show.

David Hockney, to be honest, was never a favorite of mine. In fact, I thought about missing this show because of the buzz about his "Ipad" drawings, and I thought, hmmm, do I really want to see that? Well, I decided, yes. Why not. I have used my Iphone and have put my own paintings and drawings layered into Photoshop tools, to make a new image, so why not?

I'm so glad I did!!

Not only, was I wow'd, but I learned so much about this artist and found, as I usually do, places to resonate with his process and the way he views the world..

He took the last few years and did landscapes in his England surroundings and wow, I was inspired by the candidness of the work and also the prolific body he's created in such a short time.

He also recently, last Fall, suffered a stroke, and was unable to speak, and found painting a way of expressing. I wondered if that inwardness also didn't help him in focusing on what was so vivid in nature and found his work absolutely fascinating.

Here is a video he made of his process. Here he speaks about creating the large pieces and his "bigger picture". Nothing touches seeing this exhibit in person, and I wish I'd seen it a bit earlier, so I could revisit it. Seeing his sketchbooks and 18 screen video work plus his charcoal drawings, what a retrospect!

Here is a video taken from his site, and a link to his Iphone drawings/paintings. Seriously amazed by this one in particular. The size of these works is also great. He put smaller canvasses together to make the landscape like your were standing right in it. Great respect for him. I would turn the corner and feel like i was in the forest... his forest. Several of us gasped when we got into the larger gallery. He has all the seasons in charcoal and paint...

He speaks for the Telegraph about his Ipad work: Starting with emailing his friends drawings from his iphone.

What is most satisfying to me, is, the show is not about the Ipad drawings, but instead about how the Ipad work informs his manual drawings and paintings. I am inspired. He repeatedly spoke (I had the audio show) about his need for capturing the many colors in nature when out on site, and how the Ipad lended to many quick sketches and color changes easily. I love that!!